


recuperation

by EJwrites



Series: Tumblr Is A Hellish Landscape Not Fit For Fic Writers [10]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EJwrites/pseuds/EJwrites
Summary: Hello! I really like your stuff. I know you try to avoid angsty scenarios for our three ladies, but I would like to read your take on Del and Cos having to tell Shay about Cos' illnessORWELLHUXZAMshay finds out that cosima is sick.





	recuperation

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompt me!!](%E2%80%9Cwww.coshayphinelove.tumblr.com/tagged/prompt-me%22)
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> this is loosely related to my other fic loving two, but i recently changed the direction that one's going to go. so this is what almost was....

Cosima in the kitchen was a sight to behold.  Things flew everywhere.  Dishes clanged and crashed.  But the finished product was amazing.  Even if to eat it Shay had to cheat on her pescatarian food restrictions.

Cosima packed up a little bit for Delphine in an insulated container and they were off.  

The hospital was quiet around dinner time.  Visiting families went home to eat. The people staying were taking after dinner naps.  Not Delphine though. Cosima made a point to be with her for every meal.  Delphine was made so nauseous by the pain medicine that she wouldn’t eat unless someone made her.  

The quality of the hospital food might have also had an effect.

When they arrived at Delphine’s room, she appeared to be dozing.  Her neck was bent at an awkward angle and her mouth hung open.  Shay compared that image to the one of the imposing Delphine who had come to threaten her. She couldn’t see any of the suit-wearing, no shit-taking, kind of scary woman in this curly-haired, rosy cheeked, sleepily mumbling woman.  

It is truly amazing what not being threatened all day every day and getting to spend time with the person you love can do to your disposition.

“I brought you some soup,” Cosima murmured against Delphine’s forehead after she placed a gentle kiss there.

Delphine grumbled. Shay smiled and took her coat off.  She took Cosima’s off and placed both of them on a chair in the corner.

“Well, it’s more of a chili.  My dad would make it for me when I was sick.  It probably has curative properties,” Cosima kept trying to persuade her.

“I can vouch for that,” Shay chimed in.  “There’s ginger and sage.  Probably a few other things that I missed, too.”

Delphine shifted her weight on the already inclined bed.  “I thought those helped with colds.  I don’t have a cold.”

“Well,” Cosima fluffed her pillows, “They didn’t really have any recipes online for bullet would remedies.”

“Fine,” Delphine sighed dramatically with a teasing smile on the corner of her lips.

“Yes!” Cosima fist pumped the air and unpacked the soup.

Shay loved watching Cosima with Delphine.  The tension that she held in her shoulders went away when she could see her girlfriend was safe.  It probably helped that Shay herself was also present in the room.  

“Mmm, it’s good,” Delphine mumbled through her first bite.  She swallowed and smiled.  “If it’s so curative, maybe you should have some too.”

Cosima smirked, “I already had some.  Don’t try and weasel out of eating your dinner.”

Delphine sighed and took another scoop.

Shay looked and Cosima quizzically.  Cosima looked back, equally as puzzled.

“Why would you need curing?” she asked to explain her look.

Cosima looked down.  Delphine looked between the two of them.  Shay looked even more confused as the tension in the room rose.

“You haven’t told her?” Delphine asked in quiet shock.

“No, I did,” Cosima squished her eyes shut, “Well kind of.”  She took a deep, steadying breath.  “That health issue I told you about.”

Shay shook her head.  “I thought that that was just a chronic thing,” she said.

Cosima closed her eyes and shook her head.  “It’s more of a terminal, incurable, rare thing.”

“You said it was an… an epidermis thing.  You said it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Epithelial.  And you said that, I just… didn’t correct you.”  Shame radiated off of Cosima in heavy waves.

The room got even tenser.  Betrayal rose in Shay's chest.  Delphine was staring wide-eyed at her hands.  Cosima hadn’t even gotten to sit down yet.

Shay didn’t want to to sit there anymore.  She needed to move.  “I need some air,” she muttered as she grabbed her coat and stormed out of the room.

“Eat,” Cosima commanded before she jogged after her.   “Wait, Shay.”  She almost caught up to her then Shay rounded the corner.  “Shay!” Cosima called desperately.

Shay whirled around in the little seating area by the elevators.  “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Yes, Shay.  Of course.”

“When?”  Shay didn’t get angry often, but this was really getting to her.

“I- I don’t know.  It’s not like I had a sched-”

“Really?  Cuz I told you everything.  I told your other girlfriend everything. She told us everything.  And she already seems to know about it.  So it looks like you were keeping this from me specifically.”

“That’s not what it was.  Shay, I was going to but then you guys were talking about all the tragedies you’d ever endured and it just didn’t feel right to talk about my current health issues.”

“That’s bullshit, Cosima.”

Cosima sighed and put her head in her hands.  “Look, I’m sorry.  Okay?” she croaked.  She lifted her head and her eyes were brimming with tears.  “I just.. You’re the only one who doesn’t look at me like…” she trailed off and sniffled.

Shay reached out and rubbed her bicep.  She might have been mad but that didn’t meant that she wouldn’t comfort her.  “Like what?”

Cosima sighed.  “Like I’m fragile.  Or like I’m not a capable of understanding my situation.  Like I’m about to break.  It’s so frustrating,” she ended in a growl.  “I just… I was putting off telling you because I didn’t want to lose that.”  Cosima sniffed again and looked down.

“So, it’s not me?  Or us?” Shay suddenly realized the source of her anger as self consciousness and doubt.  And worry.  A whole lot of worry.

“No!  It was- it is me.”

Shay nodded.  “Okay.  Sorry I was so dramatic earlier.”  She pulled her hands back and crossed her arms.  “I guess… I don’t know…  You and Delphine are so close.  Sometimes I just-”

Cosima body slammed into her and wrapped her in a hug.  “I will get the hang of this, I promise.  I will learn how to be a good girlfriend to both of you.  I promise that that’s the last thing, the last secret.”

Shay laughed into her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Cosima.  “Okay. I trust you.”

She pulled back and Cosima did too.  They stood in each others arms and shared a tender kiss.

“Let’s go back to your other girlfriend,” Shay said with a smirk.

Cosima laughed and started walking with Shay’s hand in hers.  “We’ve gotta find another word for that.”

When they arrived back to Delphine they were bombarded with ‘I’m sorry’s and many many questions all of which Cosima responded to with, “We’re fine.”

“Hey, Delphine.”  When she looked up at Shay she continued, “We’re fine, too.”

They all grinned at each other.

“Now please eat your soup.”


End file.
